YOTA Month 2018

Another December came and went, and with it another edition of December YOTA Month did as well. We are happy to host an event which brings young people – licensed HAM radio operators and youngster who are new to the hobby and are making their first QSOs alike, and inspires them to be more active on the bands and shows them there are many people listening on the other side. For a better overlook on the past month we make sure to keep statistics; this is not to say that the joy isn’t in the experience, but rather to confirm it. This year as many as 44 participating stations made 82,938 QSOs in December, proving once again that neither the weather nor the holidays can keep a radio amateur away from the station. And while December YOTA Month is not a competition, for the truly devoted to catching as many special calls as they can, there were awards and in 2018 there were 1516 awards downloaded throughout the DYM period. Most active this December were II5YOTA with the whopping 8,387 QSOs made from their station, whereas the 28th of December proved to be the most active day for the participating stations as 5,326 QSOs were made on that day alone. The most popular mode remains SSB with 46,989 QSOs made in this mode, followed by 28,064 QSOs made in CW, while 40m (30,280 QSOs) and 20m (31,004 QSOs) were the preferred bands. You can find the respective charts under https://events.ham-yota.com/stats where a more detailed presentation might be entertaining for you, but while the numbers are important to keeping track of things, what has been the most important to us from the very first December YOTA Month and will keep being the prime goal for the future as well, is that it continues to be an event that is awaited with excitement and concentrates on bringing young people in a world they might have not known anything about, yet might find themselves mesmerised by. So to all of you who show them the way to their first QSOs, keep up the great job and we can’t wait to hear from you next December.

The last few months of 2018 are approaching and we are excited to announce that our famous December YOTA Month will happen this year. We would like to invite you to take part with a callsign with YOTA as the suffix, for example, HA6YOTA. The idea for this is to show the amateur radio hobby to young people and to encourage youngsters to be active on the amateur bands.

This is a great moment to show amateur radio to the world and to invite newcomers. Give a demonstration in a school, local club or scouting group, gather together with your friends, grab a pizza and make some QSOs or enjoy a great pile-up.
Feel free to make a QSO with the youngsters, they are happy to get some attention and exchange information. Licensed and unlicensed youth will be making QSOs, be aware this could be their first radio contact ever and give them a chance to experience a possible new hobby.

This year we will have new diplomas and rules!
Diplomas can be achieved by working our YOTA suffix special stations which are run by young operators throughout December! We changed a bit on the general rules; 2 points can be achieved per worked stations and 1 extra point for every valid (not dupe) QSO per band per mode!

This is of course not a contest, but getting many youngsters on air from many countries. Be helpful on the bands, maybe these young operators are just making their first ever contacts!

The aim is that YOTA stations are in general operated by young people, with the age of maximum 25 years. The event will take place from 1 December 2018 00:00 UTC till 31 December 2018 23:59 UTC.

Are you interested? Would you like to take part or want to know more about the new diploma rules? Find more information on https://events.ham-yota.com/

You can also find us on social media platforms, like #hamyota on Facebook and @hamyota Twitter. You can also join our Facebook group by facebook.com/groups/youngstersontheair where you can find up-to-date information during December.